


Two Seconds

by luxover



Category: American Idol RPF, David Cook (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-10
Updated: 2012-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-29 07:29:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/317302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luxover/pseuds/luxover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts off as a, um, an accident? Because normally Archie wouldn’t say stuff like that and, you know, mean it. A HS!AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Seconds

It starts off as an, um, an accident? Because normally Archie wouldn’t say stuff like that and, you know, mean it. Only it’s not really his fault, not really, it’s hard to think straight when someone like Neal’s standing right there cause he’s so, um. Menacing. With all those tattoos. And he smokes, which Archie doesn’t like, but Dave Cook doesn’t, so that’s nice, because Archie likes Cook even if Cook doesn’t know he exists because Archie’s just a kid, he’s just a kid, really, and Cook’s on the baseball team and in a band and he’s really—really cool.

So when Neal corners him and threatens him with bodily harm if Archie doesn’t tutor him in calculus—really he just says, “I failed the test; help me out?” but he's playing with his lighter, weaving it in and out of his fingers, and Archie can read between the lines—it’s not really his fault that he says, “Aren’t you friends with, um, Dave Cook? He’s really, um. Never mind.” And it’s  _really_  not his fault that Neal knows what he means by that because Archie’s never been good at secrets.

So he tutors Neal and it’s okay, Neal’s alright, no one he could ever introduce his mom to, but he’s funny and not really all  _that_ scary and he even says hi to Archie in the hall sometimes, so that’s nice. Archie doesn’t really know many people. Well, he knows people, but he doesn’t  _know_  people and that gets kind of lonely. Not that, you know, he has no friends or anything, but um. It’s just that Benton gets annoying sometimes. But only sometimes! That’s normal; friends sometimes get like that, even his dad says so.

So then Neal gets an A- on the calculus test which, um, really is thanks to Archie and how he’s two years younger and yet in the same math class. Not that he’d ever brag about that! It’s just how it is. So maybe Neal’s not all that, um, smart? But he can do other things that Archie can’t, like drawing and stuff, tattoos mostly, but other things too. He drew Archie once, which was neat. He’s drawn Cook before; Archie saw it in Neal’s sketchbook but didn’t bring it up because, oh my gosh, how embarrassing would that be?

So anyways, Neal gets that A- and that’s cool and all, and he thanks Archie and Archie’s all, um, no problem, any time? Although secretly Archie thinks it’s  _not_  any time because Neal still kind of scares him and he’s got that friend Kyle who’s already got a  _beard_  and he’s only in eleventh grade, and Archie really thinks that’s not the kind of crowd he wants to get swept up in.

It’s hot out and Archie’s sweating, but he walks home anyways because the exercise is good for you and the bus smells and um, he doesn’t really like looking for a seat? Because Benton rides a different bus. So Archie walks.

And that’s normal and all, but then someone’s calling his name and he doesn’t really recognize the voice, so he just does that thing where he spins in a circle hoping someone will wave to him and oh my gosh, it’s so embarrassing, but then Neal’s waving from the other side of the fence—not even  _waving_ , really, just kind of raising a finger while he smokes—and oh my gosh, Cook is with him and Archie doesn’t know what Neal has told him and he is mortified.

Neal nudges Cook—kind of really hits him hard with his shoulder, actually, it looks to Archie—and then he laughs and it brightens his face a lot and Archie thinks Neal seems a lot less scary when he’s laughing.

“You are such a fucking shit,” Neal says to Cook, Archie can hear that much, and so he says without even thinking, “You shouldn’t curse,” and then he turns beet red when he realizes what he’s done.

But then Cook’s laughing, and his laugh is so much nicer than Neal’s and Archie just wants to listen to it all the time, forever. And then he’s holding a hand up to Archie and saying, “Wait, wait, you’re not in a rush, are you? Just—just wait right there,” and Archie didn’t really have much to do but even if he did he’d wait there because this was Cook and people like Archie didn’t say no to people like Cook.

So Cook reaches forward and grabs onto the links of the fence and  _starts to climb it._  This worries Archie; he’s not very coordinated. He could never do it. And so when Cook then  _falls_ —and okay, it was really just like a foot or two but still—Archie jumps and says, “Oh my gosh, are you okay?”

And then Cook laughs again, and Archie feels all warm on the inside again, and Cook says, “I’m fine, yeah. Just—seriously, hold on.” He starts climbing the fence again and he actually gets up and over this time, and on the way down loses his footing and gets grass stains all over the knees of his jeans.

“Archuleta,” he says, and he wipes his hands off on his jeans and then looks back at Neal and all Archie can think is,  _oh, no,_  because this is Neal and this is Cook, and he is Archie, just Archie.

“Archie,” he says. “My, um. My friends. Call me Archie.”

“Archie, then,” Cook says, and his smile is so wide, Archie’s never seen a smile that wide before. “Are you, uh,” he says, and he scratches the back of his neck. “Are you busy?”

“What, like, now?” Archie asks. “No.”

“No, no, I meant, tonight, or—or this weekend, but actually, never mind, now works too,” he says.

“Are you  _nervous_?” he asks. And Archie—Archie has no clue why these words come out of his mouth but they do. Archie knows he’s nervous, but he doesn’t get why Cook would be.

“Yes,” Cook says, and it comes out all at once, a rush of air, and Archie’s eyes go wide.

“ _Why_?” he asks, disbelieving, because that’s—he’s  _Dave Cook_.

“You’re really hard to talk to, you know,” he says. “You’re just—you’re  _you_ , you know?” And Archie doesn’t not in the slightest, but he nods anyways. “Can I—I mean, would it be alright if—if I took you out sometime? Or now. Or whenever.”

Archie can’t believe his ears because, oh my gosh, this can’t be happening. But then he looks over Cook’s shoulder and Neal’s standing there, laughing to himself and shaking his head, and he’s got an arm slung around this really pretty girl with green hair— _green hair_ —and Archie wants that, wants to be happy like that, so he says, “You want to go get ice cream?”

Cook laughs again, relieved this time, and he says, “I do. I really, really do.” Only then he’s pointing back behind him, back to where he was with Neal, and saying, “My car—it’s back over the—”

“I’ll, um. I think I’ll just wait here?” Archie says.

Cook laughs and says, “Okay, okay, don’t go anywhere though, okay? I’ll be right back.” And then he’s struggling to get over the fence again and Archie just watches him with this huge smile. When Cook finally gets to the other side, he digs his keys out of his pocket and looks at Archie and says, “Two seconds, okay? Two seconds.”

“Okay,” Archie says, and he rocks forward on his toes.

Two seconds, okay.


End file.
